re: 2024 NASCAR Season Thread - 2024-25 Offseason

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Crazy to think that if the 22 doesn't go 20+ plus extra laps on fumes in Nashville, the 48 doesn't get DQ'd, the 22 doesn't run on fumes again at Vegas the champion isn't the champion. Wild Card teams win in the stick and ball sports, and Logano has a horseshoe stuck up there somewhere.

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Jeff Gluck said last night that this finish will force NASCAR to tweak the playoff rules in some fashion, but I'm not convinced.

NASCAR wanted a playoff like other American sports where there's a potential for chaos, and the champion is the team who gets hot at the end, not necessarily the best team. And that's what they have now.

We can scream about it, but NASCAR can spin Logano’s championship as a great story that would be celebrated in every other sport, and an anomaly that's not worth overreacting to.

They used to only have 10 in playoff. Kept expanding to now 16 to appease owners.

If we’re gonna keep this BS format… (which it looks like we are) I propose the following tweaks.

Instead of 3-3-3-1, change it to 2-2-3-3.
Do away with win and you’re in for everyone. Change that to top 25 in points.
Make points for a win 20 points more than 2nd. Win and advance to next round needs to go too. Just drop the bottom 4 in points.

They expanded the playoffs at least once to make sure Jr made it in.

Yeah, those tracks aren't on the circuit. Interesting idea.

Among all the ideas I've heard, I think there are two that NASCAR would actually consider. I don't think they'll do anything, but these are at least realistic.

- Regular season points champ gets in final 4

- Make the the Round of 8 a 4 race final round

Either would be an improvement IMO, and it wouldn't really sacrifice any of the "drama". I'd be shocked, if in that second scenario, it didn't still come down to the wire at the last race.

As far as the first one, the last race is still a gimmick in that scenario, but at least there's some intrigue about the regular season points race.

I’ve been a fan of NASCAR for roughly 30 years. I was an Earnhardt fan because my dad had ties to General Motors. He got to meet Earnhardt, go to several races, do the Richard Petty driving experience at Charlotte. I remember going to the 1997 Winston 500 - still the fastest 500 mile race in NASCAR history. Being on pit road when they wheeled Earnhardt to the grid was pretty damn cool.

When Earnhardt died, my interest died. The sport would still have good years but they tried too hard to appeal to mainstream as opposed to the base. Their drivers became less from the south and more from California. They’re less relatable. It’s progressively gotten worse over the years and now it’s obvious the leadership is incompetent. Bill France Jr ran it and once he died, it went to his idiot kids and family who doesn’t know how to run it.

Yesterday was a well made point to how broken it is. Hopefully NASCAR swallows their pride and admits it instead of telling fans to deal with it.

Whats ironic is they changed it due to Kenseth winning it by points racing. And now the whole series is just points racing all season long. Drivers are more cautious to not lose points and get booted from the chase.

Heck, even the finish of XFinity was technically points racing. The winner of title allowed the 98 to pass him on the last lap so he wouldn't lose the title.